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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. rock — music
  3. track — to keep track
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. rock — a stone
  6. march — the month
  7. sharp — clever
  8. field — a subject
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a ring
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. band — a music group
  13. march — music
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. march — the month
  16. field — farmland
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. track — a path
  19. field — for sport
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — for paper
  22. kid — to tease
  23. kid — child
  24. track — a song

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com